I was having this discussion with some guys at work - but essentially everything is shaping up at the moment for a pretty hectic summer of transfers, especially here in England.
We now have a pretty well established "Top 6" in the country, but with a few exceptions I dont think anyone could predict the order they are going to finish next season in (obviously its too early to tell anyway) - as well as the traditional "Big Four" of olde, we have City and Spurs both battling away. But basically, each of those 6 teams has a reason to be spending big this summer.
Broadly speaking, all the talk this year has been how the quality of the league has been poor and "nobody wanted to win it". I dont agree with those sentiments, but it raises the point that the title is essentially there for the taking next year - if a team is prepared to open up the chequebook and make some serious signings, who is to say they cant win the league. Go through each team in turn;
Man City - Fairly obvious this one, but theyve got CL football and their first trophy in nearly 2 decades, bless em. They will certainly be spending big yet again, and with the CL football to their name, will likely be able to (or at least be aiming to) attract a higher calibre of player. Combined with the silly wages they can offer, we will probably be talking in excess of £100m of signings again as they revamp their squad.
Liverpool - Old King Kenny has stepped up and to his credit, has completely turned around their team for the second half of the season. The players want to play for him, and given their form over the final few months of the league, the new Liverpool owners will surely be looking to back their new manager with some investment to get them back up challenging for titles. It will take some serious spending power to displace City now that they have managed to get up into the top four, and Kenny will surely get the funds he needs to strengthen a squad which frankly at the moment is punching above its weight.
Arsenal - So close, so far, yet again. Pressure is mounting on Wenger to turn his team of "nearly"s into trophy winners. Half the gooners I know (and the media) seem to want him to spend big just for the sake of it, to prove that he knows how to make big signings. They need a proper goalie and in my opinion, a striker, since RvP is awesome on his day but cannot be relied on to stay fit. Wenger will see how close his squad is to being able to win some silverware now, and surely this will be the summer for him to make those few key additions to take them to the next level. Selling Fabregas to Barcelona will fund some heavy spending, whilst they will still have Wilshere, Ramsey and Nasri as capable backups to replace Cesc.
Chelsea - Signing Torres for £50m showed that Abramovich is still currently interested in Chelsea. For me, I reckon he is going to have one last roll of the dice, one more summer of spending to try to get that coveted Champions League trophy, and then if that fails, give up on it. They have a strong squad but with someone like Abramovich in charge, that means nothing - we will see summer activity from Chelsea without a doubt.
Tottenham - Facing a bit of an issue. They have had a taste of CL football and arent going to want to go back to not being in Europe. They have a very low wage bill and surely are going to face a struggle to keep the likes of Modric and Bale unless 'Arry can show his ambitions and make some more key signings for their squad. Its either spend big, or lose their top players as I can see it - and the latter option will be disastrous for Spurs.
Manchester United - All the talk is of a big squad overhaul. The accounts show money in the bank, Neville has retired, VDS is set to follow suit, and we dont yet know about Scholes or even Giggs. Midfield is in need of some attention, and we have already confirmed that we will be buying a replacement GK. The squad is by no means in a bad state, but Fergie is never one to settle for second best, and he will spend what is needed to buy in some real quality to get us ready for next season.
And that's just england.
We now have a pretty well established "Top 6" in the country, but with a few exceptions I dont think anyone could predict the order they are going to finish next season in (obviously its too early to tell anyway) - as well as the traditional "Big Four" of olde, we have City and Spurs both battling away. But basically, each of those 6 teams has a reason to be spending big this summer.
Broadly speaking, all the talk this year has been how the quality of the league has been poor and "nobody wanted to win it". I dont agree with those sentiments, but it raises the point that the title is essentially there for the taking next year - if a team is prepared to open up the chequebook and make some serious signings, who is to say they cant win the league. Go through each team in turn;
Man City - Fairly obvious this one, but theyve got CL football and their first trophy in nearly 2 decades, bless em. They will certainly be spending big yet again, and with the CL football to their name, will likely be able to (or at least be aiming to) attract a higher calibre of player. Combined with the silly wages they can offer, we will probably be talking in excess of £100m of signings again as they revamp their squad.
Liverpool - Old King Kenny has stepped up and to his credit, has completely turned around their team for the second half of the season. The players want to play for him, and given their form over the final few months of the league, the new Liverpool owners will surely be looking to back their new manager with some investment to get them back up challenging for titles. It will take some serious spending power to displace City now that they have managed to get up into the top four, and Kenny will surely get the funds he needs to strengthen a squad which frankly at the moment is punching above its weight.
Arsenal - So close, so far, yet again. Pressure is mounting on Wenger to turn his team of "nearly"s into trophy winners. Half the gooners I know (and the media) seem to want him to spend big just for the sake of it, to prove that he knows how to make big signings. They need a proper goalie and in my opinion, a striker, since RvP is awesome on his day but cannot be relied on to stay fit. Wenger will see how close his squad is to being able to win some silverware now, and surely this will be the summer for him to make those few key additions to take them to the next level. Selling Fabregas to Barcelona will fund some heavy spending, whilst they will still have Wilshere, Ramsey and Nasri as capable backups to replace Cesc.
Chelsea - Signing Torres for £50m showed that Abramovich is still currently interested in Chelsea. For me, I reckon he is going to have one last roll of the dice, one more summer of spending to try to get that coveted Champions League trophy, and then if that fails, give up on it. They have a strong squad but with someone like Abramovich in charge, that means nothing - we will see summer activity from Chelsea without a doubt.
Tottenham - Facing a bit of an issue. They have had a taste of CL football and arent going to want to go back to not being in Europe. They have a very low wage bill and surely are going to face a struggle to keep the likes of Modric and Bale unless 'Arry can show his ambitions and make some more key signings for their squad. Its either spend big, or lose their top players as I can see it - and the latter option will be disastrous for Spurs.
Manchester United - All the talk is of a big squad overhaul. The accounts show money in the bank, Neville has retired, VDS is set to follow suit, and we dont yet know about Scholes or even Giggs. Midfield is in need of some attention, and we have already confirmed that we will be buying a replacement GK. The squad is by no means in a bad state, but Fergie is never one to settle for second best, and he will spend what is needed to buy in some real quality to get us ready for next season.
And that's just england.
